I will protect you
by Millydr
Summary: The battle against Tartaros has ended, but everyone is devastated. After six days, Natsu decide to tell something very important to Lucy, that will change their relationship, but he also decide to hide something that could make her fall apart... What will happen when he'll leave her?
1. Chapter 1

We had won. The battle against Tartaros ended six days ago, it was almost an entire week. But there wasn't any sign of our victory. We had had many losses and our souls were devastated. Aquarius, Igneel, Grandeeney, Metalicana, Skiadrum, Weisslogia, Silver Fullbuster left us to save us. Physical injuries had left us all debilitated.

We had won. But our victory had cost us a lot, enough to not feel that as a real victory.

I was staring right in front of me while I was walking on the side of the river. The entire city was destroyed and the guild had been raze to the ground. Right now everyone was trying to put all the pieces together.

Plue was looking at me from my arms and I heard that someone from the river was telling me to be careful not to fall into it. I smiled bitterly for that warning. After all we had been through, falling into the river would be like a bad joke.

"Here we are, Plue. Home sweet home" I tightened my grip on Plue and walk inside my house.

"Hey Luce!" a voice said from the couch.

I wasn't surprised of hearing my best friend's voice. Even if he was devastated from what happened, it had not passed a day without his presence and his smile. That hadn't change. I don't know where I would be without him. He was my best friend and I was starting to consider him even something more.

"Hey Natsu" I leave Plue on the ground, who disappeared in the celestial spirit world. I looked up and I smiled at him.

The Dragon Slayer stood up and he started to walk closer until he was in front of me. "I was waiting for you" He had his marking grin on his face.

I was going to answer when I noticed that something was missing. I looked around to find a certain blue cat, but I couldn't find him anywhere. "Where's Happy?"

"Maybe he's with Carla"

I smiled at him thinking about the two Exceeds. "They're adorable together. By the way if you're hungry, I think I have something in…"

"Actually, Luce, I'm not here to eat" He started giggling like the fact that he was at my house to eat was ridiculous and I could swear I saw him blushing.

"No? Than what?"

My voice faded away. While I was talking, Natsu cut the distance between us and now our noses were almost touching. He had an even larger grin on his face than usual and it looked like his eyes were shining from the flames of his inner fire. I had never seen him like that before and looking at him made me blush.

"I came here to do something important" he said suddenly becoming serious. "I was thinking about this from a long time, but after what happened, now it is more urgent than ever"

The fact that he was talking about the battle against Tartaros surprised me, neither of us had ever talked about that, like a tacit agreement of not talking about that topic. I wasn't able to speak and my heart was beating so fast that I was sure he could hear it.

With his eyes connected to mine, he slowly started to move even closer, reducing the distance between our lips. I knew he was going slowly because he wanted to give me enough time to understand what he was trying to do and, in case I didn't want to, to stop him. He knew that this one would have be my first kiss and that for me it was important. But I didn't push him away, like never before I needed to feel him close and to admit my feelings. I closed my eyes and cut off the remaining distance between us standing on my tiptoes.

I could feel his surprise, he probably was expecting a Lucy kick. I smiled against his lips and put my arms around his neck. At this point the Dragon Slayer recovered from his initial shock and he put his arms around my waist, pick me up and spin, finally returning the kiss.

It was really sweet and soft, full of relief for not being pushed away and satisfaction for finally being able to make this move.

We stopped after what it seems like an hour and for me it could had go ahead for ever.

I smiled, a real smile after days, full of love. He grinned back and his lips soon reached again mine for a quick kiss and for than got down towards my neck.

"Na… Natsu… what are you doing?" I could feel shivers of pleasure run down my back from the trail of kisses he was leaving on my skin.

He looked up, approaching his mouth to my ear. A displeased sigh escaped from my lips for not feeling the contact with his skin. "Anything you do not want to do too" he whispered with an husky voice "I will give you enough time to stop me, in every moment"


	2. Chapter 2

"I love you, Lucy Heartfilia"

I turned to face Natsu on my side and smiled at him while blushing. "I love you too, Natsu Dragneel"

This said he leaned over me and kissed me.

We had spent the night together. It had been the most beautiful night of my entire night. Finally I had said to Natsu what I felt for him and I found out he felt the same way. Of course it hadn't been exactly how happens in movies, there have been no dates, no bouquet of flower nor some chocolates, even if he would have probably eat them all before I could have seen them. Everything had been very fast, happened in one night. But did I really care about a traditional relationship? No, not really, because there was nothing about us that can be defined as "traditional". Plus, the most important thing was that now I could actually be with Natsu, without hide my feelings nor be worried about the fact that maybe he wasn't interested in me in that way.

Despite all, he had been absolutely perfect, he had made me smile after a long time and I knew that together we would be able to overcome every adversity.

After we broke the kiss, I got closer to him on the bed. I noticed that he was smiling and I started to stroke his chest. "What are you thinking?"

He looked me and his smile got wider. "That I'm happy you haven't push me down the window last night"

I laughed at his answer and kissed him again "I don't have any intention in kicking you out ever again"

"Really? Finally!" He sighed and looked at me. He had something strange in his eyes.

I was terrified he had changed his mind about what happened between the two of us. Of course if he didn't want to start a relationship I wouldn't have forced him to, but I would have feel bad, really bad. It was useless denying it. I sat up and looked him right into his eyes. "Natsu… do you regret what happened last night?"

He stared at me for a few seconds elaborating what I just said, than his eyes got wider and he sat up too with a worried look into his eyes. "Of course not, Luce. Come here to tell you that I love you has been one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my entire life!" He scratched nervously the back of his head and smiled. "Actually, seeing how you react I should had done it a lot time ago… Why, Luce? Are you having second thoughts?" He was staring at me with eyes full of fear, exactly how my own eyes should have looked like a few moments ago.

"No! Of course not, Natsu! It has been amazing and I love you." I smiled and hugged him. "It's just that you look a little weird, that's all."

"You're weird" he mumbled. After a few moments of silence, he continued talking "Maybe I look weird 'cause you have never seen me without clothes on in this kind of situation" He burst out laughing when he saw my face turning red.

"Go on, laugh, I was just worried" I stuck out my tongue and got up wrapping around myself the sheets.

He snorted loudly and grabbed my waist. "Where are you going? And why are you wearing that? I already saw you naked" He looked like a little baby who was complaining about school.

"Natsu, even if I would love to remain here with you for the rest of my life, I'm afraid that's not possible" I sighed saddened by the fact that I had to leave.

"Why?" he asked trying to strip me.

"Because I have promised Wendy that I would have help her fixing her hair with Cancer's help and because I want to give a hand rebuilding the guild and the city." Since he was still trying to strip me, I continued talking "And I put this on" and I pointed at the sheets he was trying to tear off "Because if someone like Happy or Gray would come here uninvited, I would prefer not to let them see me naked."

He immediately stopped realizing it was possible since they always sneak into my apartment (even if Natsu did it more than anyone else). He pouted, but nodded "Alright, understood" He got up too and turn around to stare at the bed with melancholy in his eyes.

I hugged him from behind and tightened my grip on him "Don't act like this, there will be a lot of others chances in front of us" I kissed his shoulders and went to the bathroom leaving him standing in front of the bed

* * *

After half an hour we had take a shower, we had put clothes on and now we were having breakfast. I had cook pancakes and two big cup of hot chocolate with cream.

Obviously Natsu immediately started devouring them, he loved eating. I watched him as he continued stuffing himself while drinking my cup of hot chocolate. I still couldn't believe what happened, but it was true. Natsu loved me.

But there still was a strange sensation that didn't want to leave me alone. I was worried, I wasn't sure of what. There was this strange feeling that was teasing me, but I was trying to ignore it. Natsu had said everything was alright, so I had nothing to worry about. I trusted him.

After he finished eating all his pancakes, he looked up and smiled at me. "They were delicious!"

I giggled at his compliment and clean his face from all the crumbs with a handkerchief. Than I got up and washed the dishes while Natsu was observing me silently. It wasn't too bad, but it was strange he wasn't saying anything. Generally he would make a lot of noises.

When I was satisfied with my work, I leaned on the kitchen counter and watched the clock. "It's time to go, Natsu."

A grunt was his only answer, but it made me smile. I grab my keys and left my home with Natsu. "So I'll see you later at guild, in that way we'll see if they need help. After all we have already did it once, we can do it again." I smiled at him decided to do my best.

"Yeah, sure" He smiled back at me, but he looked sad again.

I didn't understand why that feeling became stronger, but I ignored it and put my arms around his neck. "I love you, Natsu"

"I love you too, Luce" That said, he gave me a passionate kiss, almost more demanding than the ones from the night before. When we break the kiss, we continued hugging each other for a while. After that I went to the park and Natsu went to his house to meet with Happy.

A moment before he let me go, I would swear I heard a whisper, but maybe I just imagined it "I will protect you"

* * *

I got to my appointment with Wendy in time and with her there were also Charle, Lily, Levy and Gajeel. Me and Cancer helped Wendy's hair to grow back after what happened with Face. After a while, we all decided to go to the guild. There I discovered that Gray went to visit his father's grave and Juvia followed him. Plus it seems Erza had decided to spend some time by herself and no one had heard of her lately. Also Laxus and the Raijinshuu had completely recovered from their injuries and that cheered everyone up. After giving us this good news, the Master gave us a terrible one. I immediately froze. "It can't be possible, it can't be" was all I could think about. When the objections started, the Master silenced us and repeated what shocked us. "I decided to dissolve Fairy Tail"

After he said that I didn't know what to do. Fairy Tail was gone. I absolutely needed to tell Natsu what the Master had decided. So I run to my house, I was sure to find him there. Considering that Natsu didn't come to the guild, I thought that he probably didn't notice it was getting late playing with Happy or maybe they fell asleep. Before I got into the house I tried to calm myself so I wouldn't scare them once they saw me. When I thought I was ready to deal with them, I got up the stairs, opened the door and… no one. There was no one waiting for me. No blue cat was going through my clothes and no guy with salmon hair was reading my book. No one was waiting for me on the couch like the night before, nor on the bed, nor anywhere else. I worried even more when I saw a letter with an "N" made in seal wax on top placed on the table. I opened it with trembling hands and two piece of paper fell on the floor. I read the bigger one and the feeling I had from that morning exploded. I reread it several times.

\- I'm going off on a journey to train with Happy. I'll be back after about a year. Give everyone else the heads up, okay? Se ya on the flip side, Lucy! Natsu and Happy -

Then I took the other sheet of paper, the smaller one, which had just one sentence: I love you and I will protect you, Luce.

I let both of them fall on the ground and began to run as fast as I could to stop them. They were leaving me alone. Natsu was leaving me alone. I kept running while tears rolled down my cheeks.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been really difficult to leave that bed, 'cause I knew we wouldn't be together for a long time. Lucy was sure that there would have been a lot of chances and I knew that, but we had to wait a year to see each other again. I made that decision a few days before and I asked Happy to come with me. After what happened against Tartaros, I realized I wasn't strong enough, if I wanted to defeat Acnologia and Zeref, if I wanted to defend the guild, my friends and Lucy I needed to become stronger. At that moment I wasn't strong enough to defend them. It would have take time, almost an year, but I was going to come back home, come back to her.

I sighed while walking down the streets of Magnolia and I directed my gaze to the sky. I wanted to tell her, really, originally I went to her house to tell her what I felt for her and to explain that I wanted to leave and why. But I couldn't made it, I lacked the courage when I saw how happy she was. For an entire week she hadn't dare to do a single true smile. Plus I was scared she would said that she wasn't going to wait for me, that if I left I was going to lose her. I had to go, in that way once I would have been back, even if she wouldn't want to be with me, I would be able to protect her and it was good enough for me, it had been enough for years. This time it would have been more difficult than ever, because I was going to screw everything up after knowing that she actually loved me back, but I couldn't let her suffer again like after the battle against Tartaros.

I arrived after a few minutes at home, where Happy was waiting for me with a sad smile on his face. "How did it go? How did she take it?"

I didn't answer and instead started to put things in my backpack.

"Natsu?" Happy tried to get my attention waving his paws in front of my face. I focused on him, but I kept looking at him without saying a word. "You told her that we are going to leave for an year, right?"

I looked away from him and stared at the city through the window. "No" was my only answer.

Happy didn't say anything for a few minutes and I had to look at him to make sure he didn't fell asleep. He was staring at me with a weird expression on his face and I thought he wanted to tell me that I should have told her, that we couldn't leave her like that, that she deserved to know… Instead he just hugged me.

We kept prepared everything for our "trip" and didn't talk for a while. I broke the silence. "I will leave her a letter."

He turned to look at me and smiled nodding trying to encourage me. "She'll be okay, the guild will help her going through everything, until we'll be back"

I nodded and smiled "That's the reason why I know I can leave. The guild will be busy putting the pieces back together and it'll keep her busy too. Moreover they will stay together, as always."

I had already told Happy why I preferred that she didn't come with us and he agreed with me. We weren't sure for how long we were going to be gone or where we were going. I didn't want her to risk her life coming with us, because there would surely be dangers. Selfishly I preferred thinking she was safe at the guild, at the bar with Mira or talking about a book with Levy. It was easier go on missions, because I could estimate the dangers and keep her safe, but out there, without any certainty, she could have been injured or worse.

We stockpiled some food and money to bring with us. We didn't have as much as we thought we had for what we wanted to do, only 13 million Jewels, but we would have been okay in some way, we would work something out.

After getting ready, I wrote a letter. I hated writing 'cause I had a terrible handwriting, but I wanted to write it myself. I owed Lucy that. I wrote on two different pieces of paper, one bigger than the other. On the bigger one I wrote that Happy and I were going away for a year to train ourselves and I asked her to tell the others what we were going to do. Something simple, that she could show the others at the guild without any problems, if she wanted to. Instead on the smaller one I wrote just one sentence addressed only to her.

After I finished writing everything, I let Happy sign the first letter and put everything in a envelope sealing it with a sealing wax with an "N" on it.

I turned to face my best friend and smiled at him. "Are you ready?"

The little Exceed smiled back at me and raised his paws "Aye!"

We got out and went straight to Lucy's house. We placed the letter on the table and remained there a little bit longer. Happy had tears in his eyes and he kept looking frantically everywhere to imprint in his mind every corner. I just retrace with my memory the night before, first looking at the kitchen, where we had breakfast that morning, then the couch where I waited for her, scared to be rejected, and lastly at the bed where we made love. I moved closer to it and put my hand on the sheets before turning around and look at Happy.

"Natsu…" He was observing me with a sad look in his eyes and a single tear ran down his face.

"Come on, Happy, let's go! A new adventure is waiting for us!" I went ahead leaving the house and put a hand on my face. It was wet. I looked at it and realized I was crying. I took a deep breath and tried to regain control. I couldn't let myself cry or Happy would have fall apart too. I dried my tears and smiled at my best friend, who just got out from the building.

We started down towards the train station. We had decide that the train was the quickest way to leave Magnolia and if someone would have tried to follow us, they needed to wait until the next train was ready to leave and by then we were going to get as far away as possible.


End file.
